Hitachi AX-M140 home cinema system

Hitachi's tiny stack attempts world domination.

This system is really a wolf in sheep's clothing. It looks like a regular hi-fi, but it's really a mini dictator that wants to goose-step around your living room and take over from all the other AV kit hiding there. Not only will it play CDs and tune to FM and digital radio stations, but it will also play your DVD movies and pump out MP3 tracks from a built-in hard drive.

On the DVD side, the playback quality is crisp and clean, but the virtual surround sound mode is about as much use as one of those tree-shaped air fresheners in a festival portaloo.

However, it's not just the DVD features that make this box special; it's the built-in hard drive MP3 player that can store around 10,000 tracks.

You can transfer tunes from a PC or portable hard drive via a USB port, and even connect an iPod to play songs directly from its music collection.

So far, so good, but where the system falls down is when it comes to controlling the whole shebang. The small two-line display and finicky menu navigation for the MP3 player makes it feel like you're trying to paint your hallway through your letterbox.

The sound also has quite a brittle feel to it and the iPod support is a mess because it can't read the song titles from the iPod's drive. The result is that you're forced to simply set it to shuffle mode and listen to tunes at random.

Being able to play movies, listen to MP3s from the hard drive and hook up your iPod should make this hi-fi a must-have when it comes to versatility, but some of the operating controls and features have ended up being either too difficult to use or too poorly implemented for us to wholeheartedly recommend it.